This invention relates generally to portable beverage dispensers, and more particularly to portable beverage dispensers which can be readily filled with a carbonated beverage without resulting in undue foaming of the beverage.
It is quite common at athletic events and other events which draw large crowds for vendors selling or dispensing hot and cold beverages to circulate among the people. For example during sporting events, such as baseball and football games, it is common for vendors to carry containers of soda, beer, coffee, hot chocolate, etc. for sale to the fans. This has proven to be a cumbersome and relatively expensive means of distributing beverages.
There also have been numerous suggestions in the prior art of providing portable beverage dispensers having tanks from which a beverage to be dispensed is retained, and from which the beverage is directed, through a dispensing nozzle, and into a paper or plastic cup. Representative beverage dispensers of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,673,007 (Kaiser); 2,105,339 (Sweitzer); 2,350,184 (Oys); 2,558,181 (Cassel); 2,684,787 (Charpiat); 2,704,627 (Brulin et al. ); 2,732,977 (Charpiat); 2,808,965 (Graphia III, et al.); 3,147,889 (Dolgin); and 3,286,884 (Long, Jr.)
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,143, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein, there is disclosed a portable beverage dispenser which overcomes many of the disadvantages of the prior art. That dispenser is adapted to be carried by a vendor and basically comprises an insulated tank having an internal compartment or chamber in which a beverage to be dispensed is retained. A discharge passage is provided through a wall of the insulated tank and communicates with the internal chamber adjacent a lower end of the chamber. A pressurizing passage extends through a wall of the tank and communicates with the chamber adjacent an upper end of the chamber. A pump is attached to the tank and includes a fluid transmitting line for directing a pressurizing gas into the upper end of the chamber through the pressurizing passage for pressurizing a beverage within the compartment, and a nozzle communicates with the discharge passage adjacent the lower end of the chamber for dispensing the beverage. In a preferred embodiment a cup dispenser also is attached to the insulated tank, and most preferably both the pump and the cup dispenser are attached to sidewall sections of the tank.
While the beverage dispenser of my aforementioned patent is generally suitable for its intended purposes it never the less leaves something to be desired from the standpoints of its ability to be filled with carbonated beverages without undue foaming, and its resistance to dispensing particulate matter with the beverage.